Man goes overboard after thrashing marlin jumps into boat

A video of a fisherman who jumped overboard after almost getting hooked by a marlin's spear-shaped bill has gone viral.

The hilarious video captures the moment the fisherman dived overboard after a flailing marlin launched itself into a boat and thrashed around on the deck.

Bill McDonnell, who caught the giant fish, said the three friends can look back at the bizarre encounter and laugh.

But at the time, he was worried that his mate would become the bait after he plunged into shark-infested waters as he tried to escape the dangerous fish.

"We were only in 30 metres of water," Bill, who owns a charter boat at Docklands, told 7News. "Sharks generally linger on the bottom until they see a bit of action and there was plenty of action. It gave them every opportunity to come up."

The crew had been fishing off the coast of Cairns when Bill hooked the thrashing marlin.

But in trying to reel the monster catch in, the fish began wrestling with the line and leaping out of the water.

When it was finally hauled onto the vessel, the marlin started lunging at the fishermen with its sharp bill.

One crew member, Will, tossed himself overboard as he was chased by the blue marlin.

"I've still got a mental picture of it coming at me," Bill said. "Luckily it landed beside me otherwise I would have been skewered.

"As it went around the boat and Will went overboard, it actually punched a hole with its beak through the fibre glass door of the boat."

The trio was forced to release the marlin, but only after it had calmed down.

The video has gone viral around the world.

Bill said the three friends watched the vision of the frantic incident over and over again.

"We watched the film until we went to bed. We were laughing our heads off because we were that pumped up."